Weeds...and the Gardener

This past month I pretty much totally neglected my vegetable garden, and it had become so overgrown it was embarrassing. Something had to be done. Really. I should have taken a before picture. There were weeds higher than my waist. It was disgraceful!

I hate weeding. I'm really not much of an outdoor person to begin with, and although my mom and my mother-in-law both have green thumbs, I'm just not there, so I don't even like gardening. But I do like the IDEA of a garden, and so every year I plant a little something. And every year it is work. (imagine that!)

So we were sitting at the breakfast table the other day and the girls asked what we were going to do today. Trying to summon my own energy and attitude, I replied enthusiastically, "We're going to weed the garden!!" while raising my hands into the air. They responded with "Yay!!" Wow, they really do respond to our attitudes!

So thankfully, my wonderful husband and enthusiastic kids helped me with this task. What had seemed to be an insurmountable project to be tackled on my own, went much faster and easier with the help of my family. Did I mention I was extremely grateful?!?

While we were weeding the garden, I was thinking about the weeds and how fast they had seemed to grow. Those nasty weeds, they come out of nowhere, and before you know it, they are taking over your garden, crowding out the plants that were trying to grow. You should have seen my poor pepper plants. No wonder they haven't produced much--their leaves were shriveling because they hadn't been able to see the light because the weeds were taller than they were.

Immediately my thoughts turned to the sin in our lives. Isn't it just the same? Sin creeps in, slowly sometimes, and if we ignore it, before we know it, things are out of control! The unconfessed sin grows until it is crowding out the fruit-bearing plants in our life, blocking the sun (or SON). Yikes! How did the garden of my life come to look like THIS?

We know it needs to be cleaned up. But the task is dirty and seems like so much work! It seems insurmountable. Thankfully, we don't have to do it alone. Jesus wants to help us clean it up. Unlike myself, He IS a gardener. He knows what needs to be done. He wants us to be fruitful.

Life is so much like a garden. If I hadn't neglected it, but instead had gone out there on a regular basis to pull up the weeds while they were tiny, the job wouldn't have been so big or difficult. The fruit-bearing plants wouldn't have been affected at all. In fact, they would have flourished because the weeds wouldn't have been stealing their light and nourishment. The same thing applies to my spiritual life. I can slowly become farther away from the Lord because of untended, unconfessed sin, and it can affect my fruitfulness. It can steal my joy. But I don't want that to be the case!

I have a bad memory. This can be a blessing (I don't tend to keep a record of wrongs), but it can also mean that I can forget to tend the garden of my soul. I mean the DEEP roots. I have to take the time to sit and really think and ask the Lord to reveal to me areas that need weeding, the sins that need to be confessed so they can be forgiven. I have to sit and listen, and then respond. If I do this frequently, then my fruit should still grow. All I have to do is invite the gardener.